It is well known that proper and uniform seed trench depth, accurate placement of seed within the seed trench (at the proper depth and proper spacing), good seed-to-soil contact, and minimal crop residue within the seed trench are all critical factors in uniform seed emergence and high yields. Accordingly, various planter improvements have been proposed to achieve each of these factors. While conducting spot checks of the seed trench may help to provide some assurances that these critical factors are being achieved, such spot checks will only identify the conditions at the specific location being checked. Accordingly, there is a need for a system that will image the seed trench to verify and ensure these critical factors are being achieved during planting operations and to enable automatic or remote adjustment of the planter while on-the-go based on the images. There is a similar need for below-soil-surfacing-imaging and control for other types of agricultural implements, including tillage implements, sidedress or in-ground fertilizing implements and agricultural data gathering implements.